Power availability to increase

HYDERABAD: The energy sector in Telangana is looking for dawn of a new era in the coming year with several positive developments lined up, particularly in the form of capacity addition, clearances for projects on hold due to environmental issues and better financial prospects, although the retail supply tariff issue is likely to remain a bitter pill.

Irrespective of the two power distribution companies’ plans to mop up their revenues by pegging up the retail supply tariff for 2017-18, which they are yet to submit in detail to the Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission (TSERC) for approval, consumers are expected to get a relief not less than Rs.400 crore. This, the authorities of power utilities said, would become possible following their formal joining of the Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) next month to pass on their debt to State and Central Governments.

Tariff hike

“The amount saved in lieu of debt servicing will be passed on to the consumers indirectly as there will be relief to that extent even if the tariff is increased to some extent,” a senior official stated. The TS-Genco would be adding to its installed capacity with the 800MW Unit-VII of Kothagudem Thermal Power Station and another 2,000 MW solar projects scheduled to commence generation during 2017-18.

Another 1,000 MW Chhattisgarh power, power purchase agreement for which has already been signed, is also expected to be available to the State in the new year with the Wardha-Maheshwaram 400KV transmission line scheduled to be completed in the next couple of months, the officials explained.

On the fate of 1,080MW (270x4) Bhadradri Thermal Power Project at Manuguru, the official sources stated that they were expecting clearance from the Centre in the next few days as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had taken up the matter with the Centre already. “Approval has been sought on the grounds that the use of sub-critical technology is allowed till the end 12th Five Year Plan. Improvement in technology will also address the environmental issues linked to it to a large extent,” the official said adding that 4,000MW (800x5) Yadadri project would also get clearances in the new year.

Increasing demand

Now that the demand has already crossed 150 million units (MU) a day and which is likely to go up due to higher consumption by agriculture and industrial sectors, the power utilities are all geared-up to maintain supply without cuts (load shedding) during the coming months.

“We are prepared to meet even the demand of 180 MU or about 10,000 MW with 40 to 45 MU of own generation, another 40 MU from Central Generating Stations and 35 MU from Singareni and Thermal Powertech. The balance demand will be sourced from short-term and long-term purchases,” Chairman and Managing Director of TS-Genco and TS-Transco D. Prabhakar Rao explained.